Treesearch

In this article, we call for enhanced quantitative and environmental analysis in the work of environmental anthropologists who wish to influence policy. Using a database of 77 leading monographs published between 1967 and 2006, 147 articles by the same authors, and a separate sample of 137 articles from the journal Human Organization, we document a sharp decline over the last ten years in the collection and use of quantitative and environmental data within environmental anthropology. These declines come at the same time that environmental anthropologists are aiming at greater policy...

Fire characteristics in tropical ecosystems are poorly documented quantitatively in the literature. This paper describes an understorey fire propagating across the edges of a biomass burn of a cleared primary forest. The experiment was carried out in 2001 in the Amazon forest near Alta Floresta, state of Mato Grosso, Brazil, as part of biomass burning experiments conducted in the same area since 1997. The vegetation of a 200 x 200-m2 forested area was clear-cut in early June and burned in late August. The understorey fire that escaped from the main burn was monitored across the four sides...

Since World War II, socio-economic drivers of US urbanization such as population totals and personal income levels have increased substantially. Human land use is the primary force driving changes in forest ecosystem attributes including forest area, which is the focus of this paper. The percentage of the US population residing in urban areas is higher than that in India. In the last few decades, the primary reason behind conversion of large areas of US forests is for urban and development uses. Since 1990, land use changes in the US that have affected forests have been heavily concentrated...

Fully mycoheterotrophic plants offer a fascinating system for studying phylogenetic associations and dynamics of symbiotic specificity between hosts and parasites. These plants frequently parasitize mutualistic mycorrhizal symbioses between fungi and trees. Corallorhiza striata is a fully mycoheterotrophic, North American orchid distributed from Mexico to Canada, but the full extent of its fungal associations and specificity is unknown. Plastid DNA (orchids) and ITS (fungi) were sequenced for 107 individuals from 42 populations across North America to identify C. striata mycobionts and...

Photo series and their associated data provide a quick and easy way for managers to quantify and describe fuel and vegetation properties, such as loading of dead and down woody material, tree density, or height of understory vegetation. This information is critical for making fuel management decisions and for predicting fire behavior and fire effects. The Digital Photo Series (DPS) is a user-friendly, Web-based application that displays data and images from all 16 currently published volumes of the Natural Fuels Photo Series (NFPS) (42 different photo series for a total of 438 sites). The...

How will climatic change and wildfire management policies affect public land management decisions concerning air quality through the 21st century? As global temperatures and populations increase and demands on natural resources intensify, managers must evaluate the trade-offs between air quality and ongoing ecosystem restoration. In protected areas, where wilderness values are paramount, public land agencies have adopted the policy of using wildfires to benefit natural resources, allowing naturally ignited fires to burn unless they present additional threats, such as fire risk to structures...

Land managers throughout the West pile and burn surface fuels to mitigate fire hazard in dry forests. Whereas piling was historically conducted with heavy machinery following commercial harvesting operations, land managers are increasingly prescribing the use of hand piling and burning to treat surface fuels created by thinning and brush cutting. An estimate of the weight of the piled debris to be burned is necessary to assess potential smoke emissions and air quality impacts associated with this practice.

In 2010, station researchers provided land managers and policymakers with critical information related to ecological processes, environmental threats, forest management, and use of natural resources. The station also capitalized on opportunities to expand its research in these arenas. The 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was one such opportunity that has both created jobs and developed scientific knowledge that will enhance management of our natural resources. Thus far, 219 people have been employed with money the station received under the act. They have worked on projects that...

Phytophthora alni subspecies alni Brasier and S.A. Kirk is a recently hybridized soil and waterborne pathogen causing root and collar rot of species of the genus Alnus spp. (alder). It has quickly spread throughout Europe via planting of infested nursery stock and irrigating fields with infested river water. Once introduced, the pathogen spreads naturally by means of streams, floods, and other drainage water. Phytophthora alni can also be passively transported with the bare-root nursery stock, as it is able to adhere to and infect fine roots of visually symptomless plants of alder and...

The balsam woolly adelgid, Adelges piceae, and hemlock woolly adelgid, A. tsugae (Homoptera: Adelgidae), are invasive pests of coniferous forests in both the Eastern and Western United States. Balsam woolly adelgid is capable of attacking and killing native North American firs, with Fraser fir (Abies fraseri (Pursh) Poir.) in the East and subalpine fir (A. lasiocarpa (Hook.) Nutt.) in the West being particularly susceptible to infestation. Hemlock woolly adelgid is capable of infesting native hemlocks and is a serious pest in forests of the Eastern United States where it is causing...